Job Discussion Forums

bradleycooper · Joined: 12 Apr 2013 Posts: 310

This is just a simple reminder to all potential TEFL teachers coming to Indonesia that it is absolutely illegal to work on VKU visas. If you want to be legally employed in Indonesia you need to get a KITAS. (This is a work visa and it lasts for 12 months).

VKUs are business consultant visas and they only last 2 months at a time. It is illegal for expats to do anything other than business consultancy on these visas. People caught teaching on them in the past have been deported. Some schools in Jakarta have been luring teachers into working on VKUs. Be informed that if Immigration raids your school, you will probably be deported. You and not your employer will bear the brunt even though they organized the whole process. It is simply not legal to work on VKUs as an English teacher.

princesss · Joined: 28 Mar 2007 Posts: 152 Location: japan/indo/aust

Latest news is that immigration has raided a school in Bogor. 7 expat teachers who were employed on VKU business consultant visas have been caught. They are going to be deported. This is part of a crackdown on foreign teachers following the JIS pedophile case. Once again, people should avoid schools who ask you to work on a VKU visa. As has been repeatedly said on here, you risk being deported.

http://gjismyp.wordpress.com/

Tazz · Joined: 26 Sep 2013 Posts: 512 Location: Jakarta

Name of school in Bogor? Not the wonderful Swara EF by any chance?

jef dam · Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 79

princesss · Joined: 28 Mar 2007 Posts: 152 Location: japan/indo/aust

http://gjismyp.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/latest-indonesian-government-regulations-are-not-good-news/

I was referring to the latest post from that site. The site is maintained by the principal of a large National Plus school who is using his own name. I think that we can therefore assume that "Principal Pak Liam" is a very reliable source.

The date is May 20th 2014 where he mentions that Immigration raids against VKU teachers have been happening. 7 teachers have been forced out the door due to these raids. The British Institute Bogor had teacher deportations in 2007, but that isn't what Pak Liam is referring to. From the context it is clear that these are recent events he is referring to. According to Liam, Immigration is now forcing out VKU teachers.

The most relevant part is this one:

Immigration have already done some spot checks on schools that I know about. A school in Bogor got found out that they had all their expat teachers on business visas… 7 teachers going home now… they are also carefully checking what your KITAS job is listed as, ie SMA English teacher cannot be teaching Art or Year 5 etc….

jef dam · Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 79

That's not mentioned in the post by Pak Liam from May 20th that I read.

princesss · Joined: 28 Mar 2007 Posts: 152 Location: japan/indo/aust

Ok, I will try and be patient here. Click on the post. Don't just look at the shorter version on the main page. Read the whole article and there are comments and debate at the bottom. Pak Liam, the school principal, makes the comments I have quoted here the discussion below. It is the second comment down. Once again, the most relevant comments are:

Immigration have already done some spot checks on schools that I know about. A school in Bogor got found out that they had all their expat teachers on business visas… 7 teachers going home now… they are also carefully checking what your KITAS job is listed as, ie SMA English teacher cannot be teaching Art or Year 5 etc….

jef dam · Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 79

Ah, so you're citing not the article but the comments section. Apologies if I don't find that credible in any way, shape, or form.

The headmaster of Nat+ he may well be, but......

He doesn't make any mention of when this mass deportation occurred, provides no credible evidence to support his comments (the deportations that happened in Bogor in 2007 were pretty widely reported on in the media, and given the current JIS witch hunt you'd think that a half dozen or so bule teachers getting deported would eat up the column inches), and in his next post compares Indonesia to North Korea.

Jef Dam remains skeptical.

jaybet3 · Joined: 15 Dec 2010 Posts: 140 Location: Indonesia

Narrow-minded government officials slowly moving Indonesian education backwards. Tighter regulations. Same teacher pay. Why would viable applicants want to work here after reading about this nonsense?

That's why I'm done with Indo and moving on to China. With my credentials (BA - Communications, CELTA, 5 years experience (two post CELTA), I haven't been able to find a job in Indonesia.

As of today, I have two offers from Universities in China offering me more money, better housing, travel package, etc. than I've seen offered here.

So, let the small-minded "leaders" drive the English business into the ground and see where they are in a decade.

princesss · Joined: 28 Mar 2007 Posts: 152 Location: japan/indo/aust

princesss · Joined: 28 Mar 2007 Posts: 152 Location: japan/indo/aust

jef dam · Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 79

princesss · Joined: 28 Mar 2007 Posts: 152 Location: japan/indo/aust

apparently, second hand information, don't take it as gospel, and all speculation, take it as such ....

Thanks for the list of weasel words. You sure you gave yourself enough wiggle room there that with that list? More weasel words than a politican in election year!

And you also misrepresented the comments. The comments about the the 7 deported teachers were made on a blog from a principal of National Plus school. Why do you insist on saying "just on a blog"? This is the principal of a well-respected school saying these comments under his own name. Is the problem that you really think that's an unreliable source or do you want to dupe teachers into working on VKU visas? I know that recruitment is oh-so-hard for many of the shady schools these days.

VKU visas are illegal. Schools that employ people on them are breaking the law. Immigration are now on the war-path against foreign teachers and may have blocked all visa issuance after the JSI pedophile case. Who would be crazy enough to work illegally on a VKU at this time? I certainly know which schools are still running the scam.

jef dam · Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 79

Right, I'll reply to you once more, and once more only, because quite frankly you're Shocked

You're 100% misrepresenting every single word I've typed. I'd add that you're trying to drag the discussion away from where it began, ie, the request for a credible link, but I think you're just typing in a blind rage. After all, you're berating me for a post that in the same thread you agreed with.

A well respected principal he may be, but you're presenting a throw away comment he made in the comment section of his blog, completely free of context, details, or anything in the way of proof, as fact.

Highlighting his comparison between Indonesia and N. Korea was me being facetious, just in case you missed that.

Show me a link to a credible source for your story about the 7 ex-pat teachers from Bogor being deported in the last few weeks. If it's true then you should be able to do so at a canter.

Ta.

SiThep · Joined: 30 May 2013 Posts: 39 Location: Thailand

Don't worry about Jef Dam Princess. Several months ago he approached me in Private Message on this site and suggested that many schools in Indonesia are still hiring people illegally and he suggested it was easy to work in Indonesia without a KITAS. He included a list of schools that might consider hiring me without legal paperwork.

I still have the message which I would be happy to put on here or to show to the moderators. I doubt they will look kindly on people using this site as a way of helping people to break the law. I concluded he was some kind of front for one of the schools but he is certainly encouraging and helping people who want to work illegally. I suppose he is sending these offers as Private Messages so the moderators can't see what he is doing. I concluded he was untrustworthy and kept my distance.